[acimlessons_list] Lesson 339 - December 5

Sat Dec 4 07:54:13 EST 2004

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+ COMMENTARIES ON LESSONS FROM THE WORKBOOK OF A COURSE IN MIRACLES
+ by Allen Watson, with Practice Summaries by Robert Perry, 
+ of The Circle of Atonement
+ Visit our website at <http://www.circleofa.com <http://www.circleofa.com/>
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Lesson 339 - December 5

"I will receive whatever I request."

PRACTICE SUMMARY

(See Part II Practice Summary and also Part II Introduction)

COMMENTARY

This can be an upsetting idea! It means that whatever I have received, I
requested. We don't like to hear that, and it can seem harsh. "You've got
cancer? You asked for it." Used that way it is harsh, a weapon for
separation instead of a tool for union. How could anyone desire sickness and
pain? The thought seems absurd.

"No one desires pain. But he can think that pain is pleasure. No one would
avoid his happiness. But he can think that joy is painful, threatening and
dangerous. Everyone will receive what he requests. But he can be confused
indeed about the things he wants; the state he would attain" (1:1-6).

Of course nobody wants pain; nobody consciously refuses happiness. If that
is so, and everyone receives what he requests, then how is it that pain and
unhappiness arise? Think of it as a syllogism:

Nobody wants pain.

Everyone receives what he requests.

Therefore, I cannot receive pain.

That seems logical, doesn't it? If the first two are true, the third must be
true. So how come I hurt? The lesson explains that I can be confused about
what I want; that I can think pain is pleasure, or that joy is threatening.
The latter is perhaps a little easier to understand since it is a common
experience. Haven't you ever had the thought, "This is too good to last?" Or
perhaps you've found yourself very happy in a relationship and suddenly
getting afraid of it because some part of you is nearly certain that if you
keep your guard down you're going to get smacked good. I had a friend who
somehow entered a very high and totally joyful state of mind and was there
for nearly three weeks until she started thinking, "This is wonderful. I
love everybody, I have no fear of anything, but if I live like this in the
world I'm going to get crucified. Maybe I'm not enlightened; maybe I'm just
insane." So she lost the joy, and it never came back in quite the same way.

We really do think that too much joy is threatening and dangerous. We value
our suspicions. We cherish our defenses. We're afraid of simply opening up
to joy. So, quite unconsciously most of the time, we request unhappiness. We
choose not to be peaceful.

The confusion of pain and joy is much more deeply buried, but the Course
teaches that pain validates our separateness and justifies our barriers
against one another. We choose it to strengthen our ego identity. It is
perhaps difficult to believe that all of our pain and unhappiness is chosen,
but the Course is insistent on this point.

"What can he then request that he would want when he receives it? He has
asked for what will frighten him, and bring him suffering" (1:7-8)

We actually do ask for things that frighten us and bring us suffering. Much
of the Text is dedicated to bringing this to conscious awareness; making us
aware of what we are choosing so that we can realize how insane it is and
make another choice.

"Let us resolve today to ask for what we really want, and only this, that we
may spend this day in fearlessness, without confusing pain with joy, or fear
with love" (1:9).

We can change our minds. We can begin, consciously, to choose the joy of God
instead of pain. When a moment of pain arises we can accept the fact that we
are choosing it, and choose again. We can say, "This is not what I want; I
choose the joy of God." We can choose peace instead of upset. One thought I
repeat so often it is practically a mantra is, "Ooops! I'm doing it to
myself again." It is remarkable what a change this fundamental realization
can make in one's life.

Read now the short prayer that closes this lesson, and start your day with
these thoughts. If you've already started the day, start it over right now.
Stop a moment and adopt this mind-set. Setting the tone of your mind right
now will carry over into the day and bring changes you can't begin to
foresee now.

"Father, this is Your day. It is a day in which I would do nothing by
myself, but hear Your Voice in everything I do; requesting only what You
offer me, accepting only Thoughts You share with me" (2:1-2).

WHAT IS THE EGO? (Part 9)

W-pII.12.5:1

"Yet will one lily of forgiveness change the darkness into light; the altar
to illusions to the shrine of Life Itself."

The "darkened shrine" of the ego is flooded with light; the bloody altar to
death is transformed into "the shrine to Life Itself." How? By "one lily of
forgiveness." I think of a magical, fantasy tale, where the heroine or hero
enters the black, forbidding temple of the evil god, carrying only a single
flower. With great trepidation she approaches the altar and lays the pure,
white lily upon it, and in a flash, the entire scene is transformed.

Forgiveness is that "magical." It isn't magic, though, it's a miracle. "The
holiest of all the spots on earth is where an ancient hatred has become a
present love" (T-26.IX.6:1). That is the miracle forgiveness works. I have
seen it with my own eyes. I have watched a relationship filled with blood
and bitterness transformed into sweet, mutual devotion--through forgiveness.
This is no idle theory, no idealistic fantasy; this works.

Forgiveness undoes the ego. The blackest of blackness that the ego has
manifested becomes flooded with light when touched by forgiveness. We need
not fear to look at our ego's darkness; there is nothing forgiveness cannot
heal. 

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+ Commentary by Allen Watson
+ Practice Summary: Robert Perry
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